Tucson to New York
by TracyLynn
Summary: Henry Missing Scene from 02.01 How Betty Got Her Grieve Back Henry's bus ride from Tucson to New York


_**Author's Note :** Hello, fellow Henry fans. I took a break from finishing my other multi-chapter fic to write up this short little one-parter about Henry's bus ride from Tucson to New York. This has a spoiler or two in it based on what I know is going to happen in Epsiode 2, but it is a very minor spoiler. I'm sure the trip from Tucson to New York is much longer than this story implies but just pretend it makes sense. :) Thank you as usual to my muses in the instant connection chatroom - you know who you are. PLEASE read and review, I hope you enjoy._

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**Tucson to New York**

"Ticket, please."

Henry handed the bus driver his one-way ticket to New York. He planned to fly back to Tucson once the baby was born and he was able to move permanently.

As he stowed his one rolling bag in the compartment above the seat and sat down he remembered back to when he had bought the ticket. He had wished for a moment that it was a one-way ticket, a ticket back to her, back to Betty, but it wasn't.

He and Charlie had been back in Tucson for three weeks and even though the prospect of being a father was exciting, everything else about his life in Tucson was not going well. He had gone back to the accounting firm he had worked at before, but they had no openings after just hiring a new group of college graduates a week before he had arrived.

There were other firms in the Tucson area, but what he found at each one was a six-month waiting period before insurance would go into effect. It was so frustrating because Charlie needed his insurance now. So, he decided to go back to MODE, at least until the baby was born.

It hadn't been a pleasant conversation with Charlie. Of course, she had assumed he wanted to go back to be with Betty. And, while he wished that were an option, he actually knew this would be the hardest thing he would ever do and while seeing Betty again should be something to look forward to, he wasn't.

He sighed as the bus pulled away from the station and leaned his head back on his seat.

Or was he ? He missed her. He missed her smile. He missed her spirit. He missed her laugh. He missed touching her face and that kiss, now he missed that too. This was going to hurt her, seeing him every day. He just didn't have any other option. He had sent her flowers the week after he left and even though he had worried even those would be more painful than helpful, he just wanted her to know that she wasn't alone.

Well, there was no sense worrying about it until he got there, he would tell her why he was there and make sure she was okay with it and then he would do his best to make sure he didn't do anything to make it any harder on her.

He moved around in his seat, adjusted the seat back and headrest and closed his eyes.

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"Henry….."

Henry's eyes fluttered open and he looked around. Where was he ?

"Henry.…."

The voice was more urgent now. He tried to focus and look in the direction of the voice.

"Betty ?"

He looked around. He was sitting in a chair outside of a house somewhere in the burroughs. He stood up and looked around, it was dark. He was cold.

"Heennrryy……"

The sound was coming from inside the house. He walked up to the door and opened it, it was unlocked. He stepped inside the foyer and then turned the knob to the other door that lead inside. It was also open.

As he walked inside, he looked around. This was Betty's house, he thought he had recognized the outside. There were pictures everywhere and even though he had never been this far inside before, he could see her presence in everything.

The house was dark and quiet, until he heard crying. It was coming from upstairs.

He slowly walked up the stairs in search of the person crying. He heard it again and walked to the door where the sound was coming from. There was a nameplate on the door that said BETTY surrounded by butterflies. He smiled.

"No, don't leave……."

It was Betty. He slowly opened the door to the room and walked in. Betty was lying tangled in the covers of her bed obviously having a dream and it didn't look like a good dream. She was crying in her sleep.

"No…."

H walked quickly to the side of the bed and sat down beside her trying to comfort her.

"Betty, I'm here. Don't cry. Please."

He tried to touch her, to pull her close but he couldn't. When he reached for her he only felt air. She continued to cry in her sleep. He was dreaming. He was dreaming and he was seeing how much he had hurt her. He stroked his hand down her hair even though he could not feel it and knew she couldn't either.

"Henry, don't leave me…."

"Betty, I am here, please feel me. I am here. I'm so sorry. I messed everything up. I should never have stayed with Charlie, I should have told her that I was in love with you. I never meant to hurt you."

Betty sighed and shifted in her sleep, he saw she was holding something in her hand, a piece of paper. As she moved again, the paper fell free, he couldn't touch it but once more she shifted in her sleep and it came into view.

It was a card, a florist card with purple flowers on the edge and it said "Thinking of you, Henry"

"Oh God. No, Betty, those weren't suppose to hurt you they were supposed to help you not feel alone with everything that happened with Daniel, Santos and your father, I just didn't want you to feel alone."

She whimpered and a small sob escaped her lips. He reached up to touch her lips but he could feel nothing. He closed his eyes and remembered her smile and her laugh and the way she had looked at him when she said she would fight for him.

Why hadn't he fought harder for her ?

There was nothing he could do at this moment for her, she didn't even know he was there. He kept looking at her and she finally fell into an exhausted and deep sleep. He wanted to wake up from this dream, he didn't want to see her hurting.

He got up and walked to the other side of the bed and sat down, he turned toward her and even though she didn't know he was there and this was just a dream, he laid down beside her and moved as close as he could to her trying to comfort her in some way or maybe trying to comfort himself. Soon he also drifted off.

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Bump.

Henry was jerked awake when the bus hit a huge pothole on whatever side road they were traveling on. The elderly woman across the aisle looked over at him and smiled.

"I was about to wake you. That was a nasty dream you were having and we are about to stop for lunch."

Henry smiled back. Thank goodness is was a dream, or was it ?

"Thank you, yes, it was a bad dream."

"Well, sometimes dreams predict the future."

"I hope not, in this case."

"Are you headed home ?"

Henry was still distracted by the dream.

"I'm sorry. What ?"

"Is New York, home ?"

"Oh, no, I live in Tucson but I have a job opportunity in New York."

"That's exciting."

Henry shook his head.

"Actually, it is complicated and more frightening than exciting, I'm afraid."

"I see, that maybe explains the bad dream ?"

He smiled.

"Maybe."

"Well, I am sure it will all work out for the best."

"I'm not sure there is any chance of that, but thank you."

The bus came to a stop outside of a diner like eating establishment and the passengers slowly started to disembark. Henry went inside and got a table in the back, alone. He ordered and ate quickly, he wanted to get to New York, the sooner the better.

After that dream, he wanted to make sure Betty was okay and that she could handle him working again at MODE. He would turn down the job and go somewhere else if he thought he was going to hurt her even one second more than he already had.

Soon he was back on the bus in his seat. He noticed the woman across the aisle had made a friend at lunch and the two ladies were sitting next to each other chatting up a storm when the bus took off again.

He moved to the window seat and sat up straight not wanting to risk falling asleep again for fear of having another bad dream, but soon the passing scenery lulled him into a sense of calm and he drifted off.

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"Henry !"

This time when he opened his eyes to look around, he knew he was dreaming again. He was in the MODE cafeteria and someone had called his name.

"Henry !"

He turned toward the voice and saw Betty sitting at a table in the far corner waving at him to join her. She looked happy to see him so he went with it. He smiled back and walked toward her. As he arrived at the table, he paused and looked down at her and was rewarded with one of her radiant smiles.

He took a chance and leaned down to kiss her cheek, as his mouth was set to hit its target she turned her head ever so slightly so that his kiss met her mouth instead. He lingered a little longer than he had intended and then stood back up awkwardly.

"Hi."

Betty blushed. It was a beautiful sight.

"Hi. Thanks for inviting me to lunch. I had a great time last night, I hope my dinner didn't keep you up all night."

They had had their date. No Charlie.

"Of course not, I enjoyed it."

"Well, you can say that now. But, next time we can go out somewhere."

He laughed.

"Next time ?"

She got deadly serious and red all at the same time.

"Oh, well, I mean, if you ……"

He stopped her mid-sentence by placing his hand over hers on the table.

"Betty, I was kidding, of course, there will be a next time. We finally got our timing right."

"Yeah, I guess we did."

He scooted his chair around next to hers and brushed her hair from her face before leaning in for a kiss. They kept their few kisses light and sweet, nothing inappropriate for the cafeteria crowd. But, soon, Betty pulled back smiling.

"I got you some lunch."

He leaned back and looked at the sandwich and chips she had gotten both of them and smiled.

"You did, it looks good, let's eat."

They sat at the table and ate, talking about weekend plans and their second date but soon it was time to go back to work. Henry cleared the table and they walked to the elevator. Once inside, the doors closed and as Betty reached to press their floors, Henry stopped her and instead pulled the STOP button on the panel.

"Henry…."

"Just one more kiss to last me until our second date….."

She smiled up at him and he lowered his head to hers before crushing her mouth in a passionate and loving kiss that sent her mind spinning and her heart beating into overdrive. He gently pushed her back into the corner of the elevator as he finished the kiss and gently laid kisses on her nose, eyelids and forehead.

"Mmmm…."

She laughed and reached up to straighten his tie and his hair which had somehow gotten tangled into her fingers during their heated exchange.

"Back to work."

He frowned and turned to the elevator panel, pushing in the stop button and pressing their floors. When the elevator reached the 3rd floor, he turned to leave after giving her a quick kiss. He stood in front of the elevator doors and watched them close as she blew him one last quick kiss.

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"Son……son……"

He felt something poking his arm and opened his eyes.

"Son….."

It was the woman across the aisle on the bus and she was jostling him awake.

"I'm sorry to wake you but we are almost there and I thought you would want to see the lights of the city when we arrived."

He smiled at her and sat up in his seat.

"Thank you."

He looked outside and it was dark and he turned back to her.

"Did we stop for dinner ?"

She laughed.

"We did, but you were sleeping so soundly, I couldn't wake you, I tried but you murmured something and I couldn't rouse you. It seemed that dream was much more enjoyable."

He smiled.

"It was. But, in some ways it was no more promising than the first. Thank you again for waking me."

So, here he was back in New York, he could see the lights of the city coming into view.

Two dreams and while one was certainly more pleasant than the other, he felt certain the other one was more realistic. He'd see Betty tomorrow at MODE and it would be up to her if he stayed or if he went. He wished he was living the second dream and that life was as happy and content as he had always imagined with Betty but with Charlie about to have his baby, he saw no possibility of that and every time he thought about it, it broke his heart into more tiny pieces.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are arriving at the Port Authority in a few minutes, please be sure to take all of your carry on baggage with you. There are signs in the station to direct you to your next bus if you are continuing on with bus transportation to your final destination."

Once they stopped, Henry said goodbye to the woman he had sat across from and she wished him luck. He quickly found the local bus he needed to take to his apartment and boarded it. It was good he had not sub-leased the place yet. A few minutes later, he stepped off the bus in downtown with his carry on bag.

He was back. He adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath. Now, he would just have to see what happened next.

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THE END


End file.
